Pagina 5 de 1294

From time to time, he would mutter something, from the habit of

talking to himself, to which he had just confessed. At these

moments he would become conscious that his ideas were sometimes

in a tangle and that he was very weak; for two days he had

scarcely tasted food.

He was so badly dressed that even a man accustomed to shabbiness

would have been ashamed to be seen in the street in such rags. In

that quarter of the town, however, scarcely any shortcoming in

dress would have created surprise. Owing to the proximity of the

Hay Market, the number of establishments of bad character, the

preponderance of the trading and working class population crowded

in these streets and alleys in the heart of Petersburg, types so

various were to be seen in the streets that no figure, however

queer, would have caused surprise. But there was such accumulated

bitterness and contempt in the young man's heart, that, in spite

of all the fastidiousness of youth, he minded his rags least of

all in the street. It was a different matter when he met with

acquaintances or with former fellow students, whom, indeed, he

disliked meeting at any time.